Ottawa seeks better reporting on environmental emergencies after Kearl oilsands leak

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault is taking the first step towards an improved reporting process for environmental emergencies following a leak of wastewater from an oilsands mine in Alberta that wasn’t made public for nine months.

Imperial Oil and the Alberta Energy Regulator were required to notify the federal government about seepage from the tailing ponds at the company’s Kearl mine after first noticing it last May.

But that didn’t happen until February, after 5.3 million litres of additional wastewater had been released.

First Nations in the area whose members hunt and fish on the affected lands and waterways say they are furious that they were never told.

Several chiefs and representatives from affected First Nations and Metis communities are appearing at a House of Commons committee Monday to discuss the situation.

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First Nation concerned about leak at Kearl oilsands site in northern Alberta

Guilbeault says their testimony should help inform the efforts of the new “notification and monitoring working group” he is creating Monday to help design a better reporting system for the future.

The group will be made up of representatives from federal and provincial governments, the Northwest Territories and Indigenous communities affected by the release.